Trump really does not want you to see this ad. Or does he?

On the surface of things, it appears that President Trump does not want you to see the ad above, which simply quotes his recent history of public statements downplaying the coronavirus crisis and maintaining that his administration had everything totally under control. As Bloomberg News reports, The Trump re-election campaign told TV stations they could lose their operating licenses for airing an ad criticizing the president’s actions in the coronavirus crisis—a challenge that may be more bluster than actual threat. President Donald Trump’s campaign, in a letter on Wednesday, told stations in five battleground states to stop showing the ad from Priorities USA, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidate Joe Biden. There are two possibilities here: The first is that Trump has never heard of the so-called Streisand Effect. (The Economist explains the Streisand Efffect thusly: “When trying to hide something makes it more visible.” And, yes, a certain entertainer is responsible for its name; see “How Barbra Streisand Inspired the ‘Streisand Effect,’” from Mental Floss.) The second possibility is that, for reasons we may never understand, Trump is secretly working for Priorities USA. Yes, that sounds completely implausible—but then again, Trump did put in a lot of time and effort over the past couple of months effectively creating the ad in the first place. He said everything in the ad in front of TV cameras—he put it all out there—and all the Priorities USA team needed to do was string the Trump soundbites together and add in some graphics.

Trump really does not want you to see this ad. Or does he?

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